Wooden Towers
Warning: May contain colorful language. Prologue ''The world around me is not one I have ever known. It is bright for the most part, but the areas where the light does not reach are shrouded in a sinister shadow. There are so many things here; things to hear, things to see, things to touch, things to explore. I feel an overwhelming urge to analyze everything in this place, to understand it. '' ''My limbs fling themselves about in an odd fashion, trying to accomplish some unknown task. I allow them, because there is no other way to comprehend what is going on. My feet, usually so orderly and disciplined, swirl around, leaping and brushing the ground, spinning my body in circles. My arms aren't much better; they're extended, waving themselves in the air as if they were trying to propel me forward. I nearly laugh at the thought. How would they ever move me forward? That's not their purpose. Even if it was, they could never send me gliding through the air. I don't have a fuel source. '' ''Nearby, an unidentifiable male clasps his hands together with rhythm, creating a beat out of the sounds of impact. I try to force my feet forward, toward the boy and the odd sounds he's creating with his hands. It doesn't work. Maybe he understands what I'm doing with my hands and feet. '' ''"What am I doing? What is this?" I am surprised to find a hint of nervousness in my voice. There is no reason to be nervous about anything. I have been and always will be completely safe. '' ''The boy grins and opens his mouth to form a reply, but instead of the voice I was expecting to hear, a familiar automated woman speaks through his mouth, rousing me from my sleep. '' Chapter 1 "Wake up, Marceline. It is five-zero-zero AM. Today is May twenty-third. Your calendar indicates that today, in your recreational period will be spent creating bridge structures. For lunch today, Nutrition is serving..." Tekhie rattles on in her blocky, automated voice, listing the facts of the day. I swing my bare legs up into a sitting position and listen intently, allowing the details of the dream to drain from my mind. I would like to take time to preserve the memory of that odd, colorful place in my mind, but it is essential that I know information about today. Like Leader XXXV said, "The unknown is dangerous, so we must know all to preserve ourselves and our allies." Once Tekhie is finished with reporting information, I turn to the mirror that faithfully reflects my image back at me. Tekhie taught me to see things as facts, so instead of seeing my own reflection, I see a female of average height and average weight for her relatively young age. Her nose is slightly oversized, but not enough to be an abnormality. Her dark brown hair, almost black, is pulled back in a tight ponytail, messy now from a nine hour sleep. Her eyes are set just far enough back into her skull to protect them from the outside world, and they still have shadowy lines underneath them from her apparent drowsiness. She redoes her tight ponytail and applies a cleansing lotion to her face and hands before turning toward the door behind her and leaving, much like myself. Before I exit the room I slip a chip into my transmitter, transferring Tekhie's 'conciousness' from my room into my earbuds. It's voice fills my brain now, and no one else's. I feel privileged to have Tekhie all to myself. She is my ECRS, or Educating, Care-taking, and Raising Simulation and will be for another three months and sixteen days. At that time, I will have become seventeen years of age, completed my education stage and began my labor stage. Everyone has their own ECRS, but Tekhie is special to me. It has become more than a simple simulation in my mind, but I have been detaching myself from it so that I will not be affected when she is given to an infant after I am over the education stage. I am halfway to Nutrition when Tekhie speaks again. "Marceline. There is an irregularity in your schedule. Tomorrow is Exiting Day for your age group, so today you must report to Briefing for information." I smile, and pick up my pace, letting my feet guide me toward my destination without the aid of my mind. I had forgotten about Exiting Day! Each year, the sixteen year-olds venture outside of the Compound for a few hours to learn firsthand the horrors of the surrounding world. It is such an irregularity in schedule that I crave it. For once I may have an experience worth sharing. Breakfast consists of the same old nutritional proteins and carbohydrates, this day with a strawberry to liven up the taste. I briefly chat with Nixxon, my friend, and I can see that he is almost as intrigued in Exiting Day as I am. We walk together to Briefing, the clicking our shoes make on the tile floor filling the silence. Briefing is crowded with the others in my age. They all sit in straight, orderly rows, paying attention to the screens ahead of us. They show pictures of a barren, brown world, charred and dried to a crisp. The ruins of buildings and civilizations collapsed in on themselves after the Fire Rain. Much was completely obliterated, and the rest of the world is unusable. Our brave ancestors built the Compound as a sanctuary after we destroyed ourselves with the Fire Rain, to preserve the last of our species. They created a new government, because "Humans, on their own, obliterate all. We must guide ourselves toward peace and prosperity by making technology a part of our daily lives." That is a part of the pledge that every child memories as a part of the Education stage. I blink twice, clearing my mind. According to Tekhie, I'm an extraordinary history student, and so it's easy for me to lose track of what's going on around me when I'm remembering the past. It is important that I pay attention now, on such a crucial learning day. The rest of the briefing is instructions on what to do when we exit the Compound. It will be my first, and probably last, time outside. I can't focus for the rest of the day because I'm trying to memorize every safety precaution that the Exiting Day safety memo contained. The bridge structure that I created during recreational time was flimsy at best, and I was a while three minutes and twenty eight seconds late to dinner. I'm sitting on my bed, waiting for Tekhie to announce lights-off when Nixxon enters. He motions for me to turn off Tekhie, which I find unnerving. Without Tekhie, I feel so uninformed, so unprotected. Nixxon always has good reasons for asking for things though, so I silence Tekhie and move toward him. "I just wanted to ask you... Um..." I notice that his hands are shaking. Is he ill? "If you would like to accompany me outside on Exiting Day." I study his face. What does he mean? I will be accompanying everyone in my age to Exiting Day. He looks unwell though, so I answer with the kindest response I can come up with. "Of course I will. I'd love that, Nixxon." I reply, placing my hand on his forehead casually. He may see it as a friendly gesture, but I'm really attempting to check his temperature. He grins widely, and throws his arms around me in a hug. I am startled at first by the sudden surge of emotion, but then I hug him back once I reach an understanding. Nixxon asked me to accompany him to Ending Day as his mate, not as his friend. I think that Nixxon would be a suitable mate. I'm so glad that Tekhie isn't here, because it'd be so against my showing such extreme emotion at a young age. The most intense physical gesture that is commonplace here in the Compound is a handshake, and most people don't even do that, seeing as it is a way to spread germs and diseases. Nixxon steps back and nods toward me, instructing me to meet him at Nutrition in the morning before we leave the Compound. I agree and lay on my bed, thinking about my day for a few minutes. It takes me a moment to realize why everything feels so quiet. I reach over to my transmitter, switching the chip to the room and turning Tekhie on just in time to hear her announce the fact that its time to turn off the lights and rest.